I do agree with the fact that a child is born with empathy, however, I also think that based on my personal experience, a child who is raised by abusive parents or has suffered some type of severe trauma or neglect before the age of 5 can have a harder time feeling empathy or lose the ability to feel empathy for others as an adult all together.

I think this is the reason why I don't have any empathy as an adult. While I do have cognitive empathy (the ability to understand people's feelings on a logical level) I am finding that I'm almost incapable of feeling emotional empathy (the ability to feel what others feel). Despite me not having any empathy as an adult, as a young child, I was very sensitive and emotional.

My point is that how one is raised DOES play a role in one's ability to have empathy as an adult.